Roy Halladay, the former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher regarded as one of the greatest players in franchise history, has died in a plane crash in the Gulf of Mexico near Tampa, Florida. He was 40.

The Pasco County Sheriff made the announcement at a news conference just after 4 p.m. ET. The office also tweeted the confirmation on its Twitter account.

“The worst case scenario happened and it breaks our hearts,” Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said at the news conference.

A small plane crashed just off the coast of New Port Richey, Fla., a small town north of Dunedin, where the Blue Jays hold spring training and base their U.S. operation. WTSP-TV reported that video of the wreckage showed the tail number, which was matched to Halladay’s plane through photos he had posted on Twitter.

The National Transportation Safety Board will take over the crash investigation.

A tribute on a billboard outside of the Rogers Centre in Toronto to former Toronto Blue Jays star pitcher Roy Halladay who was killed in a plane crash Tuesday.Peter J. Thompson/National Post

Halladay played for the Blue Jays from 1998 to 2009, when he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in one of the heart-rending transactions in team history. With the team far from being a playoff contender, Alex Anthopoulos, the new general manager at the time, made the trade to allow the long-serving Halladay an opportunity to play for a contending team. On the other side of the deal was Phillies senior advisor Pat Gillick, who had drafted Halladay in 1995 when he was GM of the Blue Jays.

Halladay won a Cy Young Award as the best pitcher in the American League in 2003, when he compiled a 22-7 record with a 3.25 ERA, a league-leading nine complete games and two shutouts. He added a second Cy Young with the Phillies in 2010, going 21-10 with a 2.44 ERA, a league-leading nine complete games and four shutouts.

The 2010 Phillies took Halladay to the post-season for the first time. In his first playoff start, Game 1 of the NL Division Series against Cincinnati, Halladay threw the second post-season no-hitter in baseball history, beating the Reds 4-1.

In this Oct. 6, 2010 file photo, Roy Halladay waves to the crowd after pitching a playoff no-hitter as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies.Chris Trotman /
AFP / Getty Images

Philadelphia swept the Reds in three games, but lost in the NL Championship Series to San Francisco. Halladay pitched twice in that series and once more in the 2011 NLDS against St. Louis.

In December 2013, Halladay signed a symbolic one-day contract and retired as a member of the Blue Jays. At his retirement news conference in Florida, Halladay thanked the Phillies for being his second home.

“I want the Phillies organization to know, I want the fans to know how much I enjoyed my time there. How much they meant to me, how much they meant to my family and what a major part of my career they were,” he said.

But retiring as a Blue Jay was his only choice.

“To me, the biggest thing was had I not been fortunate enough to come up with the Blue Jays and have the people around me that I did, and have the people develop me that I did, I would have never had that chance to play with the Phillies,” Halladay said.

“You know, I could have very easily been out of baseball in 2000, 2001 and never had a shot. To me, that was the most important thing. I felt like everything the organization had done for me, the player they allowed me to become, I felt like it was really important to acknowledge that. Had I not had those chances, I would have never been able to play for the Phillies.”

Roy Halladay took out this ad in the Toronto Sun on Dec. 22, 2009, after he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies.Postmedia Network

Halladay is eligible to be considered for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019.

He is survived by his wife, Brandy Halladay — 2018 would have marked their 20th anniversary — and his sons, Ryan and Braden.

The Blue Jays released a statement on Twitter Tuesday afternoon, which read: “The Toronto Blue Jays organization is overcome by grief with the tragic loss of one of the franchise’s greatest and most respected players, but even better human being. It is impossible to express what he has meant to this franchise, the city and its fans. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.”

Former Blue Jays president Paul Beeston told Postmedia that Halladay “was a life lesson for everybody that has to work hard at something to achieve success.

“Roy was a wonderful story, somebody who had the talent when he was drafted, struggled, then persevered and came back,” Beeston said. “He was just a unique and humble human being.”

Roy Halladay shakes hands with Jose Bautista before the Toronto Blue Jays’ April 4, 2014 season opener against the New York Yankees.Dave Abel /
Postmedia Network

Cory Lidle, another former Blue Jays pitcher, died in a small-plane crash in New York City in October 2006. He was flying with an instructor when his Cirrus CR20 crashed into the side of an apartment building along the East River.

Lidle had just completed his ninth major league season with the New York Yankees before the crash. He played for the Jays for one season in 2003.

Another Yankees player, catcher Thurman Munson, died in a small plane crash in August 1979 in Columbus, Ohio.

Roberto Clemente, the Hall of Fame outfielder from the Pittsburgh Pirates, died on New Year’s Eve in 1972 in Puerto Rico while taking off in a plane filled with earthquake relief supplies he was delivering to his home country of Nicaragua.

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